Week 7ish Update

Well I finally sat down to figure out what week I am actually on. The peppers are just shy of 7 weeks, and are getting 18 hrs/day of fake sunlight. As a result, they seem to be growing about 50% faster than in nature, but that's just a guess.

I have not yet "pinched off" the first buds, but will likely do so this week. It is nice to have this blog to look back and be able to quantify weekly growth. They grew about 3 inches taller this week, and now average about 9 inches tall. Meanwhile, the herbs continue to meander along. One of the basil leaves is curling up and has some sticky looking (but not feeling) substance on it. I am not sure what that is all about. The pepper leaves are not curling any additional amount, and may actually be flattening out a bit. These plants are still ultra bushy with very dense foliage...I think the Mylar is making the difference in terms of sunlight penetrating to the lower leaves.

Without further ado...(peppers first, as always!)

This garden is looking jungle-ish!

When you look at them everyday, they don't seem to grow, but then you look back at last week's picture, oh my!

One of probably 30-40 total buds spanning all 3 plants. This one looks like its getting ready to open up into a flower.

Sweet Basil, with "underlings" attempting to grow up in the shadowlands of big brother (don't know where that sentence came from).

Notice how there are actually TWO leaves that have this weird sticky-LOOKING substance on them (but it feels normal to the touch).

Thyme....I have no clue why that plant in the middle is growing crooked...too close to the bigger one? Would be odd because the "sunlight" is universal and comes from all directions.

Some Parsley came up...the 2nd set of leaves even looks like what you get in the store...shocking, I know!

In the middle is the adversity-overcoming Sage plant...now with 3 more underlings quickly catching up.

Cilantro....this herb garden is starting to gain some diversity now.

More Cilantro...bring on the salsa!

Rosemary....probably 10-12 total (small) sets of leaves.

Perky plants

The peppers had been showing a pronounced diurnal trend of drooping in the evenings...which seems a bit strange given that the "sun" and all other conditions are always constant. Anyway, I think I may have been under-watering a bit, because I upped the dosage and now they look noticeably perkier even at the very end of the day (see picture).

Go Herbs!

Basil continues to sprout and there are some new sightings which first started to pop out of the soil yesterday.

This is my second planting of herbs. The two on the left are Sweet Basil and the abundance of sprouts is Genevese Basil - all 6 Days old.

This is my first planting of herbs which I thought I had burned up with too much light and heat. Well, surprise surprise, after two weeks Thyme (on the left), Spearmint (on the right), and Oregano (not shown) all sprouted! There are a few other peat pods in which green is visible just beneath the soil, so more is on the way. Some of the seed packets actually list germination times of 14 to 21 days.

And so it begins...

Well lets catch up on the last nearly 2 months. I got inspired (read: tired of winter) to try my hand at growing something green indoors. I decided to try a variant of Cayenne peppers known as "Ring of Fire" since I like hot peppers and it would be awesome to grow something totally non-native to Alaska. After extensively researching grow light set-ups and other logistical issues, I went with an 8 bulb T5HO (high output) fluorescent rig with 40,000 total lumens of light output. At this point I also roped Shaun into the adventure and he opted to trust my research and get the same equipment. Thus a friendly competition was born. This blog is a way to document and compare our progress, as well as any other interesting findings along the way.

I ordered organic seeds off Amazon, and stuck them in a 4 dollar mini-greenhouse. About 7 days later in my warm garage, I saw the first green shoots. Then came transplanting, and then this whole idea spread to herbs as well, since we had excess "grow" space under the lights. Here's the quick version of the last 7 weeks. The cayenne seeds were planted January 14.

This is how it all began, in some Peat Seed Pods

8 days later....sprouts!!!!

Eventually I would get a 100% germination rate. Ironically, they look kind of "leggy" in this photo....wish they would stretch out a little bit now!

 

After about a 5 week gap, here they are! Now under the permanent light fixture in the permanent pot and growing location.

Here's all 3 of them, at about 5 weeks total age since planting.

6 weeks-ish. Very bushy....almost TOO bushy, with such a dense canopy. I guess that means they aren't struggling for adequate light!

Like Shaun, I have a fan blowing on them 4-5 hrs/day, which helps them develop beastly stems, like this one.

At 6-7 weeks of age, they are developing over a dozen flower buds each, which will eventually lead to peppers. Problem is, I don't want them to produce fruit this early, I want them to become bigger plants first, which will pay off in terms of yield in the long run. So, sadly, I think I will be pinching off these flowers when they get big enough.

Not even 6 inches tall, and trying to produce 12+ peppers! Uh oh!

 

 

Now for the herb update.....

The herbs have been surprisingly slow-growing, even compared to "slow growing" peppers. Nevertheless, they are finally coming around. I, too, burned my first seeds, so I've planted a 2nd batch.

Rosemary crawling along, about 4 weeks old.

Rosemary, about 6 weeks.

Sweet Basil, about 3 weeks old.

Sweet basil, about 6 weeks.

Thyme! TINY seeds lead to TINY sprouts, who knew!

Thyme, about 4 weeks in. Working on 3rd sets of leaves.

This is Sage. I thought it didn't germinate, then when I dug down under the soil I saw it was caught on its seed husk. I decided to show it light and see what happened, and low and behold it started a new set of leaves!!!

Parsely just came up 3 days ago...about 10 days into the 2nd planting.

Here is my patriotic grow set-up...in the garage.

Under the lights.....

Grow Lights and Mylar and Cayenne Peppers Oh My

After having considered purchasing grow lights for years, it finally happened thanks to my buddy Andy. I love gardening and now I can do it all year long. And trust me, the winters are long up here in Alaska and I could use another winter-time hobby to make it through the darkness. I am excitedly looking forward to experimenting with different plants and conditions, having fresh herbs on hand for cooking, and enjoying the process. I also look forward to the, uh, friendly grow competition. Even though Andy had a bit of a head start I have some secret weapons that will help my plants catch up!

Andy did the research and found the best lights available that wouldn't break the bank. Of course, I needed something to hang the light fixture from and to set the plants on. Luckily, I found this awesome industrial shelf (made in the USA) at Lowe's. It was the perfect size to fit the light fixture in.

2/8/13

Andy started some Cayenne Peppers from seed and kindly gave me some. Hot peppers certainly wouldn't have been my first choice, but hey, I'm willing to grow anything (well, almost). Besides, this would allow our friendly competition to begin and enable us to learn from each other as we both explore this new way of growing. The growing environments do differ - Andy has a nice hot garage to grow in. My wine collection is temporarily being stored in my garage (at 55 degrees), so that wouldn't due. Of course, the inside of my house isn't much warmer - generally between 62 and 66 degrees. I decided on my upstairs living room.

By the time I had everything set up to grow, the pepper seedlings had become root-bound. Thus, after transplanting on February 8th it took a while for them to take root and start growing. Here are two of the three pepper plants on February 18th. They are starting to develop multiple sets of leaves. The plants are not growing vertically very much, only standing a little over an inch in these photos.

Day 35.  2/18/13

Day 35. 2/18/13

These grow lights are quite powerful. The first few days I had a permanent light on in my house which could be seen as I drove up. To help capture that light and send it back to the plants I bought some mylar and taped it along the outside of the shelf. In order to provide easy access to the plants I created two flaps in the front which connect to the shelf via velcro. In the photo below you can also see a clip-on fan in the bottom right hand corner. This provides some "wind". Plants don't like stagnant air and evidently will be "tougher" with a little wind. Initially I put the grow light fixture about 2 inches above the plants per Andy's advice. However, we decided there was no need to have it that close with such powerful lights. Also, experience growing outdoors is that plants will grow toward the light and we want these peppers to get taller!

Mylar covered shelf with front flaps open. 2/23/13

Mylar covered shelf. Nobody can see what I'm growing! 2/23/13

Here are some photos I just took about an hour ago. The peppers are really starting to develop tons of leaves, although they are still only about 2 inches high. I also planted two sets of herbs in mini greenhouses. In order to successfully germinate, most of these herbs need soil temperatures around 75 degrees. I bought a heat mat to set beneath the first herb greenhouse. Well, evidently it got a little too hot, because the one basil seed that germinated got fried and nothing else has come up since. :( I've kept the heat mat in place, but have it turned off. The black surface heats up under the lights providing the needed heat.  My second batch of Basil has sprouted and I eagerly await the other herbs!

The three Cayenne Pepper plants out for a photo shoot. Day 40 (2/23/13)

Cayenne Pepper Day 40 (2/23/13)

Cayenne Pepper Day 40 (2/23/13)

Herb seeds planted in mini greenhouses on 2/10/13 and 2/18/13. 

Basil is germinating! The first few popped up 2 days after planting and the rest have followed on Day 3 and 4. 2/23/13